Top 10 - 2012 Year in Review

Facebook wants me to click on some app to datamine my newsfeed Timeline into a year-end review. Instead, I'll do my own! It was an incredible year in which I fully embodied my motto to "Embrace the craziness." Top 10 after the jump.

Performances

New Year's Eve Concert at the Kimmel Center: It's hard to believe this was exactly a year ago!  I teamed up with my friends and esteemed musicians Colleen Hood (bassoon), Elizabeth Racheva (soprano), and Catherine Schaefer (piano) for a two-hour chamber concert for several hundred people. This will always be a highlight of my career.

In June, Nobuo Kitagawa, Debbie Davis, and I tackled the very difficult Zelenka Trio Sonata No. 5 -- and I got my first-ever review.

Bach Choir of Bethlehem: This is my favorite job and it's impossible to pick just one concert. The Festival's B Minor Mass sounded better this year thanks to acoustical improvements in Packer Memorial Church; I played second d'amore on Cantata 80 and third oboe on Brandenburg 1 (One of the Lehigh Valley's "Top Classical Concerts of 2012"); filled in last-minute for the glorious Magnificat; and introduced thousands of children to Bach in our Bach to School programs.

Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra's "iConduct:" A unique series where brave volunteers from the audience got up and conducted us in Beethoven 5. It was very fun and different to do an interactive concert and to play for such enthusiastic crowds.

Curtis

Good news in the area of government funding: Curtis has been awarded three consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, including two this year for the Curtis Chamber Orchestra tour and the production of Owen Wingrave. Curtis also got an award from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts that's slightly more than in years past -- at a time when the overall PCA funding has decreased.

It's nice to have recognition and support from some new funders: D'Addario Foundation and Women's Philharmonic Advocacy.

Working with the Curtis Crescendo Club young patrons group has been a fun addition to my usual grantwriting routine. It's nice to see young people so enthusiastic about supporting the arts. (Plug: We have many more events in the spring semester so please consider joining!)

Other

Going to performances is almost more important to me than playing them myself. This year's highlights were Curtis Opera Theatre's Elegy for Young Lovers; New York Philharmonic's "Philharmonic 360" at the stunning Park Avenue Armory; The Philadelphia Orchestra's Beethoven 9 at the Mann Center and Brahms 4 at the Kimmel Center avec Maestro Yannick; Jeremy Denk's solo recital; and Sigur Ros at the Mann Center's new Skyline Stage.

I finally applied to Temple's Fox School of Business -- something I've thought about doing for years. If I actually get in, I will likely be blogging more about this in the future.

Finally, getting my first article published and launching this blog! I dreamed of becoming a writer ever since I was a little kid, so it's indescribably exciting to me that it's actually becoming reality. Meeting the interviewees has helped me personally tackle the challenges of parallel careers, and I hope you find it helpful too. I look forward to seeing what happens my writing next year -- starting with working on my submission to Dr. Dylan Savage's forthcoming book. 

A heartfelt thank you to my family, friends, and readers for sharing all of this and more with me. Happy New Year and see you in 2013. Cheers!  

--AM